


Five Times

by Aliemah



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Cute, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 04:22:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12975807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aliemah/pseuds/Aliemah
Summary: The five times that Garrus can remember falling harder for Shepard.





	Five Times

The first time he recognized that maybe he did care for her was shortly after Virmire.

They were on their way to the Citadel, and he heard something clatter to the ground behind him. It was late, and he’d thought himself alone by the Mako. But he turned, only to see her standing there, looking at an empty mug on the floor. He watched her stare at it for a solid minute, it seemed, before she moved to pick it up, grunting as she did so and holding her back as she stood. He did realize he’d walked over until he was standing right next to her as she put the mug on the table again.

“How long is it going to take before it stops hurting?” she asked in a meek, wavering voice. He couldn’t very well see her face, but he’d worked with enough humans to know that she was emotional, and trying to stuff it down.

“It’s going to take however long it needs to.” he shrugged. He watched her sit herself on the table, face pained and eyes strangely glossy. He stepped forward again. “There’s nothing wrong with feeling the loss of a friend. I’m… Going to miss her, too.”

She was suddenly leaning forward, with her arms wrapped around him and her face pressed against his armor. Shepard rarely showed any emotion other than happiness or anger. So her showing him her sorrow wasn’t something he’d been prepared to deal with, but at least it was another emotion he was decently familiar with. He put his arms around her, as tight as he dared without harming her, and let her be.

Garrus could comfort her for as long as she needed, if that was how he could best help her.

Maybe he did come to care for her more than he’d anticipated. It wasn’t a bad thing.

\---

The second time was at her funeral.

He was shocked to hear from his friends that she’d gone down with the ship. He was confused, as to how she could be taken out so easily after fighting off everything she had.

Garrus cried. He’d have thought his father, who he was speaking with when he got the news, might have chided him for crying over a commanding officers’ death. But nothing came, except a gentle reminder to call him when he felt like talking again.

He felt like he was lost now, without someone to confer with about his plans to join the Spectres. With that same thought, he knew he could still do something to honor her memory without having her face plastered on every sign on the Citadel.

He resolved to bring a little light where there was none. To do something right, to help people get off their feet. Omega was a nasty, unforgiving place, and he needed something to keep him going. Helping anyone who might request aid from the merc groups, or just wanting a bit of peace of mind would find him waiting. He etched her name first on his visor, right above the optic so she would always be with him somehow.

\---

He’d thought he’d been hallucinating the third time, seeing her just a few feet away. It all happened so quickly. She was there, helping him with the mercenaries, and then she was down below, closing off the back doors. And then… he couldn’t feel anything but pain, and blood.

“Just hold on.” she kept saying to him, her voice sickeningly sweet after going two years without hearing it. But he did as she asked. She deserved as much effort as he could manage to put in to staying alive.

If it had been hell to live without her, how could he possibly think that she would be fine without him?

\---

The third time… It had caught him off guard. In the most pleasant way. Was she making a pass at him? He shouldn’t have been so excited to think that. How would a relationship like that even work between them? There were so many things that were different - that could go wrong, even, and not to mention she had plenty of publicity, his father would- no.

He was his own person. He had defied his father once, he could do it again. He could and would do it if he was going to be happy.

Garrus wanted to see where this could go. He told Shepard as much, wanting to have something good in his life again before dying. He’d come so close to death so many times before, and only once could he recall her not being there by his side, and in that moment he had wanted nothing more than to have her with him. So he was going to do this, even if it was awkward as hell and ended in a total disaster, Garrus was going to do it.

Maybe he did love her. He wasn’t sure. He didn’t know what love felt like, but he did know that he cared about her more than he had about anyone else. He could say with certainty, he cared for Shepard. But love was still questionable.

\---

“I wasn’t sure if you still wanted-”

“I do want to. I very, very much still want to be with you.” she said quietly while she held his hands, stepping forward.

He’d spent enough time with her before that without thinking, his arms went to wrap around her, pulling her close. He dipped his head to press his forehead to hers, a wave of calm washing over him like a breath of fresh air. If she was safe, and he could watch after her, then he could do whatever needed to be done.

“I’ve missed you.” she said softly as they pulled back a bit, her hand lightly pressing on his cheek that was well-scarred over. He smiled, and pressed into her hand. It wasn’t sensitive anymore, she could treat it just like the rest of his face. Though he didn’t mind her gentle touch, either.

“I’ve missed you more than I would care to admit.”

She kissed him, and he let himself be carried away, in the back of the main battery. As always, he made sure that she didn’t have anything more important before he dared to lift her shirt, having missed all of her very much and wanting to make sure she knew that.

And, he hadn’t missed that she’d locked the door on her way in, either. So it was nice to know the feeling was very mutual.

\---

When had he fallen so madly in love with her? When had she become such an intricate, necessary part of his being and will to live? For a few moments, after the words had left his mouth, he worried he’d said too much, that maybe he was too reliant on her, or making up things in his head.

“I love you too. So, so much.” she whispered as she curled up against him, blue light from the fish tank washing over her body.

He wasn’t too reliant. He was in love. Garrus would do anything and everything to protect this woman and make sure he could fall asleep with her again, night after night.

“So tell me,” he started up again, after only a few minutes, “where are we going to be living after the war is finished?”

It was forward, but natural. He couldn’t imagine her wanting to walk away from him now, so now was as good a time as any to start seeing what little of their future they could start planning. HEr head lifted from his chest with a smile, and she sighed happily before launching into all the things she’d already planned out. He watched her smile as she laid out exactly how their home would be laid out, when all their friends would visit…

“I want to adopt a couple kids.” she finished, looking a bit shy. It was one of his favorite looks on her, because he knew she was telling him something she had never shared with anyone, and that was something special to him.

“I would think we might be busy enough having to babysit for Wrex, don’t you?”

“That’s right…” she laughed, looking a bit… what was the word she’d used? Nettled? It sounded right. She looked nettled. Then she smiled and shrugged. “We can tell him no every once in awhile. Besides, his kids are going to need some friends, aren’t they?”

“I suppose they will.” he grinned, pulling her closer.

He loved her. He loved her so much. Garrus knew that this was the first time he would be saying that to himself, knowing she fully loved him back and that they were going to be together. He wasn’t ever going to let her forget how deeply he cared for her.


End file.
